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Jim Harbaugh got the mantra from his former coach at Michigan, Bo Schembechler, whose “The Team” speech is part of the program’s lore.

In 1983, Schembechler addressed the Wolverines and said, in part, “No man is more important than the team. No coach is more important than the team. The team. The team. The team.”

Harbaugh, a freshman quarterback in 1983, has carried those words with him. On more than one occasion since becoming the 49ers‘ coach, he’s referenced “the team, the team, the team” during news conferences.

And, of course, he’s invoked it with his players, who, by the sound of things, have embraced Harbaugh’s message to put the team above all else.

Before dispersing for six days during their bye week, the Niners, in attempting to explain their 5-1 start, mentioned the importance of a selfless locker-room-wide mentality they credited to their coach.

Harbaugh is “the biggest reason because he actually got all the guys to buy into him, actually become a family,” nose tackle Ricky Jean Francois said. “And start trusting in one another, don’t have a doubt. If something goes wrong, somebody go over there and pick that guy up. If you see him down on the ground, pick him up, cheer him up, say, ‘We’re going to get the ball back, we’re going to score this touchdown, we’ll catch this ball, make this tackle.’ “

Said cornerback Tarell Brown, “I think every guy is just going out there to compete for the next guy beside him. We all hold each other accountable, so at the end of the day we just fight and fight and fight.”

In keeping with his belief that nothing is more important than the team, Harbaugh refuses to criticize a player, however subtly, in speaking with the media. Mistakes? He calls them “teachable moments.” Practice-squad players? Typically left behind by NFL teams on road trips, they’ve traveled with the Niners this season.

Punter Andy Lee has been struck by Harbaugh’s interest in each player. The coach, Lee says, has stopped to eat lunch with Lee, placekicker David Akers and long snapper Brian Jennings, a trio of specialists who often dine by themselves.

The new style of leadership is perhaps best illustrated through the relationship between Harbaugh and quarterback Alex Smith.

Former coach Mike Nolan publicly questioned Smith’s toughness, and Mike Singletary famously dressed him down on the sideline last year. Harbaugh? He’s offered endless praise, sideline hugs and, after a 24-23 win at Philadelphia, an affectionate tousling of Smith’s hair.

For his part, Smith said he’s not the only one who can feel the love.

“This is the most selfless, undivided locker room I’ve ever been a part of,” Smith said this week in a Sports Illustrated podcast. “Just the most committed. This team sacrifices so much, puts so much time and effort in. So many of these guys just play for one another. Just for the joy for being accountable to your teammate. It’s really a special deal.”

It’s worth noting that, in his famous speech, Schembechler told Harbaugh and his teammates that they would never replicate the unity they had in college.

“You can go into professional football,” Schembechler said. “You can go anywhere you want to play after you leave here. You will never play for a team again. You’ll play for a contract. You’ll play for this. You’ll play for that. You’ll play for everything except the team.”

Was the late coach right? Can an NFL team really be all about the team?

In the aftermath of the Niners’ victory in Detroit, left tackle Joe Staley didn’t field that question. But he said something unique was happening this season.

“It’s a really different team,” Staley said. “I don’t know what we would have done last year, but the demeanor and attitude we have in this locker room is something I’ve never experienced in the NFL.”